Eternity Cries
by Lockea Stone
Summary: What if? A town destroyed, a journey to save the world, and a tale unlike any ever told. It is Symphonia as you've never heard it before. summary inside, AU
1. Count the Stars

Eternity Cries

A town destroyed, a girl destined to save her world, and the boy who will be her guardian. An assassin misguidedly trying to save her people, a half-elfin scholar in pursuit of her stolen family, and a warrior lost seeking out love again. A band of renegade children, Renegades after the Chosen's heart, and a murderer seeking to atone for his sin… They are destined to cross paths, fight, join forces, and rise together to defeat a fallen hero trapped in the world of his mind. Trapped in the delusion of saving his dead sister… Symphonia is only the beginning…

* * *

Chapter One: Count the Stars

Iselia had vanished into the night. No, not vanished, it had been destroyed. Had anyone survived the fire that swept through? He believed perhaps someone had, perhaps his friend whom he loved very much had lived one, as was foretold.

So, when he had awoken to the ashen skies of the aftermath, he had fled through the woods to the town gates and seen the full extent of the damage. None could live through that, he was sure of it. But there she was, unharmed, crying over the body of her dead father.

He laid his hand across her shoulder and guided her from the ruins of her home, taking her with him to his own home. It was only then that he remembered, today was her sixteenth birthday.

When she had calmed down enough, she explained to him what had happened. "I went to receive the oracle last night, we were going to leave tomorrow, but then last night it rained fire from the sky, and burned Iselia to the ground." She was strong and did not cry, but even she could not summon a cheerful façade. He, and the dwarven man he called his father, comforted girl, then left to speak of it alone.

He stared at his mother's grave, refusing to look up. "I have to go with her."

"Are you crazy?" His dad asked him with a fierce glare. "You could get killed. You and Colette both."

"But I have to go with her, to save the world. She'll get killed if I don't protect her."

His father sighed. "Fine, but I won't let either of you leave here empty handed, before you leave tomorrow, come see me, I have something I want to give you."

"Of course." With a nod, the dwarf left the child he had raised to be alone with his mother. "Mom, why do awful things like this happen? What did Iselia ever do to deserve destruction? Well, I'm leaving tomorrow, so I won't see you for a while, but I hope you'll keep watch over me and Colette. I want to help her save the world, and put a stop to the Desian's cruelty."

He stayed in the company of his mother for much of the day, then returned to his home. Colette, his best friend, slept on his bed, never stirring as he packed his belongings for the hard trip ahead. The two swords he had carved from wood rested over his pack at the foot of his bed as he too, prepared for sleep.

Late that night, the girl stirred. "Lloyd?" She called softly to the sleeping form on the floor.

"Yeah?"

"Let's go outside and look at the stars."

"Sure." So the two rose and stepped out onto the terrace. "By the way, happy birthday Colette. I'm sorry I don't have a present for you."

She smiled, brushing away her blonde hair. "That's okay, just being with you is enough." She glanced skyward. "Look at all the stars. I wonder how many there are in the sky."

Lloyd also watched the stars. "I remember once, a very long time ago, someone told me that a human life is far to short to count them all, but I'd like to give it a try anyway."

The girl smiled at him, "Then let's try." She pointed upward. "One, two, three, four, five, six…"

He joined in. "Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven… Say, Colette, how do we know if we've already counted a star once?"

"Hmm, I guess we don't but not knowing shouldn't stop us from trying."

"Yeah, you're right." So they counted the stars until they fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, when the sun rose to wake them, the two youths prepared to set out. Dirk, the dwarf, gave them food and supplies, then took Lloyd to his mother's grave. "There is something I must tell you, but before I do, you must promise not to act rashly. Let Colette regenerate the world and leave the Desians be, they will vanish when the regeneration is complete."

"What is it, Dad?"

His father pulled a small glowing red orb from his pocket, an exsphere. "Your mother didn't die in an accident. She was murdered." He paused to let the information sink in, then placed the exspere in his son's hand. "She fled the Desians with this exspere and they killed her. She wanted you to have it, so now is the time. Protect Colette with this, it's your mother's memento."

He nodded. "I promise. I will protect Colette and avenge my mom by regenerating the world." He took the exspere and the key crest, "Goodbye, Dad."

"Whenever you're tired, just come home, I'll always be here for you."

Those were his parting words as he watched them leave.

"Be well, my son."

* * *

_I am crying. I don't understand it. Perhaps it is because _he_ is crying. _

_I think of the stars and rise to my darkness. Slowly, I will lose my mind, this bond I hold with him will drive me insane. So I know what I must do. _

"_I will leave here, goodbye." I say simply and immediately my two companions object._

"_They will kill you, the world is not kind and you have lived here twelve years, what do you remember of the outside world?"_

"_Nothing." I reply, "But I am losing my mind in this darkness, I have to find my brother and put an end to his suffering."_

_The eldest, Kate, backs away. "You have not seen him for so long, since they fled. I think now they are safe from human hands."_

"_Then why is he crying?" I am not nearly as old as Kate, or Levine, the only male in our group, but I am no fool. "I can feel him crying. You can help me leave or you can try to stop me, but I will go to him._

_Kate bows to my determination. "The gates of Sybak close at night, but leaving during the day raises to many suspicions." she shows me a secret passage. "This will take you above ground. Go to him, then, but be careful. If you are caught we will all die."_

_I understand. "What will you tell the humans?" _

"_We will wake up the morning after you leave and raise a fuss. They will seek you out. Hide in the Gaorocchi forest to the North and make your way to Altamira. Go to the Otherworldly Gate, it will take you to Sylvarant, the legendary land." _

"_Thank you, for everything."_

"_Now, the gate opens on a full moon, so watch it's phases each night, and travel only by night." She handed me a staff. "Use this to protect yourself."_

_That night, I fled from the basement lab where I had lived for twelve years, and made my way to Sylvarant in search of a brother I had lost so very long ago with only a legend I barely believed to guide me…

* * *

_

Ending Notes: You know how they talk about Polite/Proper speech in Japanese? Well, it exists in English too, I speak with a proper manner (Yes, instead of Yeah. Mother, Father, changes in sentence flow), so it's easier to write characters with the same speech pattern which in Tales only Kratos and Regal have, I swear. So it makes writing Lloyd especially hard because not only does he have a foul mouth, he speaks casually to everyone.

Glad this chapter is done. There is so much to this story that I didn't really focus on Iselia to much, because I want to get Genis, Presea, Raine, and a couple of OC's in there.

BTW: Levine is the name I gave Kate's assistant. So he is a character in the game, just an unnamed one.

_Triet ruins. Colette leads the way to the seal of fire but they catch a band of thieving children in their camp late one night. All of them bear exsperes with special key crests and are lead by the cocky mage called Genis and the silent Presea. Who are they really, and where do they come from? Chapter Two: The Children of Darkness._


	2. Children of Darkness

Thank you!

Katt: Shut up and go away, there's a reason I never tell you anything.

RoyalFanatic: Someone other than my annoying little sister likes my story! Yay!

Lyra: Do you even know what AU stands for? Alternate Universe. I don't feel like explaining all the dynamics of it, but I'm sure you are thinking of Alternate Worlds, there's a difference. Alternate Universe takes place in a changed world, meaning something happened differently in the past that made it the way it is today. I don't know why people call those "Symphonia crew goes to high school!" fics AU's because they're actually not, they're not even really AW either, but a mix of both. AWU maybe?

(The person narrating at the end of chapter one was the 'Half-Elven Scholar'. Guess who that is. The one at the end of this chapter is the 'Warrior seeking Love'.

* * *

Eternity Cries 

Chapter Two: The Children of Darkness

"We've run very low on supplies, and our gald is nearly gone."

The voice was emotionless, but he could tell she was worried. She had lost her ability to feel during the Angelus Project, of which she had been subjected. "Fine." His voice was also emotionless, but that was born from hatred. Hatred towards those that had stolen him from his family and used him in an experiment called the Evangel Project, to create exespheres in Half-Elves. "We will have to obtain it from travelers, then. Afterward, let us head to Luin, and make a new camp near Lake Umacy."

They'd run a very long ways, and this was only one of the places they came. The Triet Desert, is what the people called it, the people of the town, Triet. They'd witnessed the tower of salvation appear and speculated if that was an omen good or ill. They thought to make their way to Iselia but had stopped when they heard word of it's fall. Bad things lay in wait there.

"Of course. I shall inform the others." And she left him with his thoughts. He wasn't very old, but, yet, he was. He'd never truly been a child, and had only the gifts the others gave him of their childhood memories. She had been a child once too, and truly pitied his loss. But he had fought against her pity and now she respected him, for he was strong and courageous, even if sometimes hot-headed.

'So why, then, do I feel so sad?' He turned his head upwards to the colored sky of the setting sun.

"Genis?" She called, and still he ignored her. The sun was setting and she'd seen their targets making a camp. 'Children', she had thought bitterly. Just two children alone in the wilderness, a boy and a girl. But then, she was still a child, as was those she traveled with. "Genis, it's almost time. Shiva made some food, come eat."

He followed her silently into the circle of campfire where their three companions sat. Shiva, the oldest but the most timid, was tending the fire and stirring what smelled like lentil soup. Vian, who was closest to Genis, except for Presea, watched Shiva, his sister closely, making sure she didn't do anything clumsy. The siblings were half-elves, whose parents had abandoned them to the mercy of humans. The last member of their group, Aaron, was a human who had followed Presea when she decided to run away with the three half-elves.

"I think I may have burnt it." Shiva sighed, taking a sip of the soup from her ladle. "Genis, can you come check?" Genis loved Shiva, she reminded him of his own sister, who couldn't cook and wasn't always nice, but loved with all her heart… in odd ways.

"It needs meat." He wrinkled his face at the taste. "But we'll have to settle for some spice. Presea, I think there's some cinnamon in my bag, can you dig it out?"

As Presea set about silently to her task, Vian moved beside his sister at the fire and said, "Cinnamon? What will that do?"

"You'd be surprised. Cinnamon is extremely versatile in the right quantities, it'll taste good, trust me."

So they trusted him and ate the lentil soup with cinnamon in it as night fell. "Darkness." Commented Presea as she wiped out her bowl with a rag. "Now would be the ideal time to move."

With the moon overhead to guide them, and Aaron left to guard there things, the three half elves and single human hunter made their way through the dunes of sand until they crested the one that overlooked the camp below, exactly where Aaron said it would be. "The boy uses twin swords, and the girl carries charkas in her pack." He had also warned. Well, no matter, if they got in their way, Genis and Vian would use their magic.

"Wait here." He instructed a nervous Shiva as he and the other two made their way down into the camp. Both the girl and the boy slept peacefully, the fire nearing dead in it's pit. He snuck into the boy's pack with silent fingers, moving through it's contents with some interest. There was nothing of true value but crafting materials and a few gels. Then his rough fingers snagged fine cloth. Ah, so he had magical cloth on him, and so Genis helped himself to it.

Unknowingly, the boy stirred in his sleep and slowly awoke, catching Genis off guard and frozen staring into brown eyes. Wait, he knew those eyes…

"What?" The boy remarked dumbly, still staring at Genis.

'Run.' His thoughts screamed, two more seconds and the boy would be fully awake. So he moved away from the pack slowly, and could feel Presea and Vian do the same.

Then he woke up, and in a heartbeat he had two swords pressed against Genis' neck. "What are you doing here?"

"Raiding, what does it look like?" He retorted sarcastically, muttering a spell under his breath. He hoped Vian was doing the same, since Presea had not brought her axe with her.

"Aqua Edge!" Yes! Vian's spell hit the boy directly and turned his attention away from Genis, giving him enough time to finish his spell. Unfortunately, they had aroused the girl, and she was quicker to catch on to the situation.

Then, they were in battle, disadvantaged with two magic users and a girl armed only with her hunting dagger, against two teens, who were in all actuality about the same age as Shiva, armed with weapons. They probably would have won even if the boy hadn't gotten to Shiva.

"Stop, or I'll kill her!" He shouted, holding a terrified black haired Shiva against his chest, one sword pressed to her pale neck. Even the boy's companion seemed distressed at his demand.

"Stop it! I don't want anyone getting killed, I just want to know what's going on!" The blonde haired human girl protested, her eyes pleading to reason with the boy.

"Fine." He still did not release Shiva, "What are you doing here?"

'Damn, what to do now?' Genis didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, so he replied as calmly as he could, "We have very little food and almost no gald to buy some, so we decided to steal it. If you release our friend, we won't bother you, we'll retreat."

The blonde haired human dropped her charkas in a sign of surrender. She stared pointedly at the boy until he released Shiva. "We can't fight them." The girl said, sounding rather pathetic in Genis's mind. "They're hungry and they've got no money, we have to share with them, Lloyd."

The boy- Genis assumed he was Lloyd- looked doubtful, "They attacked in the middle of the night, and they might have killed us. In fact, they could do it again."

Shiva, who had moved over by Vian and Presea interjected quietly, "Actually, it was you who attacked first. We didn't want a confrontation."

"Oh." Lloyd's face contorted rather comically into confusion as he was caught by Shiva's logic. "But if we give you our supplies, we won't have enough to reach Triet. We're trying to save the world."

"Oh, but Lloyd, part of saving the world is helping those in need, we can stand to give up a little…" The girl's eyes got really big and watery, a look Genis had seen Vian use on Shiva once, when they were still children.

All this talk made him angry. "We don't want charity! We can take care of ourselves." He stomped off, Vian and Presea following immediately.

Shiva lingered just a moment, "I'm sorry, thank you for your kindness. Genis is a little rough, but he's had it hard, he doesn't mean to be rude. It's important for him to be able to take care of us…" When she realized she was rambling, she blushed in the moonlight, bowed quickly, and ran off after her foster family.

As she left, Lloyd saw something embedded in the back of her hand wink in the moonlight.

* * *

Lloyd kept watch the rest of the night while Colette slept. In the morning the two continued on their way. The dessert was hot, and Colette fell more than usual in the soft sand, tearing open her palms as she tried to catch herself. By late afternoon they arrived in Triet and bandaged Colette's hands. The sand had left fine wounds along her palms so that she couldn't hold her weapon. 

They split up to wander around town for a while, and came back together for lunch. Afterwards they shopped for supplies and spent the night at the inn, sharing a room with two beds. The next day they left, heading West to the ruins that housed the Seal of Fire, one of the keys to saving the world.

* * *

Presea woke up first, yawning and stretching as she greeted the day. After their run-in with Lloyd and his companion, they had traveled to some old ruins to rest for a while. Their food was gone, but a small oasis near the ruins provided water and a few wild vegetables that no one had died from yet. It was a risk they had to take, in order to survive. 

She recalled when they had first left the underground labs. Genis couldn't remember the surface, Vian and Aaron held only vague memories, and Shiva had been traumatized. That's why they left, to save Vian's sister. They had to rely on her, little Presea who was to old for her body. She showed them the way through Gaorocchi forest, and what foods were edible, how to avoid rabid carnivorous beasts and where to turn to keep from getting lost. She was their leader in Tethe'alla, on the journey to find Exire.

They hadn't found the city of legend, instead they found the legendary gate. It had been after a particularly terrifying flight from the Papal Knights where they'd been forced to flee by makeshift raft. They'd drifted in the ocean for days, dieing of hunger, until on the day before the full moon they had washed ashore on the small island that held the Otherworldly Gate. That night, it opened and the children had fallen into the land of Sylvarant.

Legends said Sylvarant was a hellish place, filled with poverty, war, and monsters. Yes, all those were true, but Presea loved Sylvarant. Here, no one looked at half-elves with contempt, and everyone gave all that they could. They lived under the fear of the desians but they were happy folk. In Palmacosta, the Church of Martel had taken care of them and given them the provisions to begin their journey in search of a place to call home.

But nowhere they went was good enough for Genis. He was wary of settling down, because his family had always been running, and his sister had told him stories of their flight. "Every time we stopped," she had said, "Someone came for us. Someone cast a stone at us and we were running again." Presea knew that Genis was afraid of those stones, afraid of being outcast. He watched the stars to learn to travel by night, and he never stopped anywhere for long.

She adored him though, for he was the one who took charge, who knew the way, and who led them to wherever they needed to go. He was their leader, and he was her friend.

"You're awake so early, Presea, it's like you beat the dawn at rising." The only other human in their group, the child Aaron, came and sat beside her, yawning and stretching.

She cocked her head up at him, "'Speed is to race the sun and win.'" She recited, rather archaically. "I get up to practice, something you should do if you want to be stronger." All her emotions were subdued, and half the time she was barely conscious beyond her puppet state, but that didn't stop her wry sense of humor.

"How about you practice hard and let's just say I did." Aaron ruffled his own chocolate colored locks and laughed. He smiled at the girl, but even so he couldn't help but pity Presea, for she couldn't live life to the fullest.

"No." Came the pink haired girl's simple reply.

Aaron mock groaned, leaning back against an old pillar for support. "Ahh, c'mon Presea, do it for me? You know you love me."

"Love?" And it almost seemed like her true self peeked out, "I do not love you. You're a horrible person, Aaron. Go away."

The human boy stared at her, his expression one of both bewilderment and disbelief. "You can't honestly mean that?" He asked, then noticed the way Presea's blue eyes lit up and the small smirk on her pale face. "You're so mean Presea! Leading me to think you hated me, one of your best friends in the whole world!" But his rage was superficial, for one could never stay mad at Presea very long. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "I'll protect you, okay? You can count on me."

* * *

_I stare at him for a long time, the words he spoke not quite sinking in. "What did you say?" I ask, spitting the words out with a certain vehemence. I don't like him any more than he likes me, but he still needs me around._

"_I said, Iselia is gone, but the Chosen still lives. I want you to bring her to me. She is the one I'm looking for."_

"_If you didn't want her dead, why did you destroy her town?" I ask impudently. Once again, the boy has done something utterly foolish. _

"_Because I simply cannot wait. There is no need to release the seals, it will be faster if she comes straight here. She need not associate in that… place any longer than necessary." _

_Figures. That is something he would do, without regard to the humans of the village. "Fine. I will do as you say." Then, with an insolent smirk, I add, "For now."_

_It gets him angry, but I don't care. All my cares died fourteen years ago. _

_I set off to find the young girl and bring her to her death.

* * *

_

I wanted the chapter to be a bit longer. Wahh, didn't work out that way. Sorry for the wait. Loves! Bye.

Next time: A second confrontation leads Genis and Presea to make a difficult decision regarding the protection of their group, especially when out of the sands appears a group similar to the Desians seeking to kill the kind girl with blonde hair. They would haver succeeded too, if it weren't for the mysterious swordsman who refuses to leave. Chapter Three: A Guiding Wind

Lockea

Oh, yeah, go check out my quotes list. I have two hilarious Symphonia based ones that I found on a message board. One has to do with Genis and Presea.


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